Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre is to be sold off as the city council attempts to raise money to settle an equal pay dispute totalling more than £1 billion.

The embattled local authority has been the major shareholder in the NEC Group, which also runs the National Indoor Arena, since its creation in 1976, but the staggering payout is thought to have triggered its decision to sell the landmark asset.

Female council workers, including cleaners, dinner ladies and home care workers, won a legal dispute in October 2012 at the Supreme Court against Birmingham City Council after it emerged they had been paid less than male colleagues doing the same jobs.

Now the council is struggling to balance its books with the sale of the NEC, which could fetch as much as £300m, as it attempts to settle more than 4,000 cases.

So far Europe’s largest local authority has managed to pay out nearly £500m, but it still needs to raise around £550m to settle the liabilities.

Up to now it has borrowed money to help fund the settlements, but the Department for Local Communities and Local Government is not allowing it to take out any more loans.

The authority denied that the disposal of the NEC Group, which also operates the LG Arena and the International Convention Centre, was a direct response to the equal pay liabilities.

Sir Albert Bore, the council leader, said the NEC Group had reached a point where it needed to "adopt the financial disciplines of a private, rather than a council-owned company".

He claimed the plans would preserve and enhance the NEC Group's economic impact.

"An open sale process has been identified through an extensive strategic review process as the way to achieve full value for this internationally-renowned asset, whilst achieving the other principal objectives of enabling the group to achieve its potential," Sir Albert said.

"I want to look forward rather than backwards. I think that's how we should all look at this because there is an exciting future for the NEC Group,” he added.

Under the proposals, the LG Arena and the National Exhibition Centre, which hosts international events including the Crufts dog show, could be made available on a 100-year lease.